Oultivated Plants of the Fiitufe, 
607 
lines — for instance, that running from Tokio to Kobe. For native 
consumption there are prepared luncheon boxes of two or three 
stories, provided with the simple and yet embarrassing chopsticks. 
It is worth the shock it causes one’s nerves to invest in these 
boxes and try the vegetable contents. The bits of fish, flesh, and 
fowl which one finds tlierein can be easily separated and discarded, 
upon which there will remain a few delicacies. The pervading 
odour of the box is that of aromatic vinegar. The generous portion 
of boiled rice is of excellent quality, with every grain well softened 
and distinct, and this without anything else would suffice for a toler- 
able meal. In the boxes which have fallen under my observation 
there were sundry boiled roots, shoots, and seeds which were not 
recognisable by me in their cooked form. Professor Georgeson, 
formerly of Japan, has identified some of these,' but he says, “ There 
are doubtless many others used occasionally.” 
One may find sliced lotus roots, roots of large burdock, lily bulbs, 
shoots of ginger, pickled green plums, beans of many sorts, boiled 
chestnuts, nuts of the gingko tree, pickled greens of various kinds, 
dried cucumbers, and several kinds of seaweeds. Some of the 
leaves and roots are cooked in much the same manner as beet-roots 
and beet-leaves are by us, and the general efi'ect is not unappetising. 
The boiled shoots are suggestive of only the tougher ends of aspara- 
gus. On the whole, I do not look back on Japanese railway 
luncheons with any longing which would compel me to advocate tho 
indiscriminate introduction of the constituent vegetables here. 
But when the same vegetables are served in native inns, under 
more favourable culinary conditions, without the flavour of A'inegar 
and of the pine-wood of the luncheon boxes, they appear to be 
worthy of a trial in our horticulture, and I therefore deal with one 
or two in greater detail. 
Professor Georgeson, whose advantages for acquiring a knowledge 
of the useful plants of Japan have been unusually good, has placed 
me under great obligations by communicating certain facts regard- 
ing some of the more promising plants of J apan which are not now 
used here. It should be said that several of these plants have 
already attracted the notice of the Agricultural Department of the 
United States. 
The soy bean {Glycine hispida). This species is known in the 
United States to some extent, but we do not have the early and best 
• Pickled daikon, the large radish, often grated; ginger roots; shoga ; 
beans ( Glycine hispida), many kinds, and prepared in many ways ; beans 
(Dolichos cultratus), cooked in rice and mixed with it ; sliced hasu, lotus 
roots ; lily bulbs, boiled whole and the scales torn off as they are eaten ; 
pickled green plums (ume-boshi), coloured red in the pickle by the leaves of 
Perilla arguta (shiso) ; sliced and dried cucumbers, kiuri ; pieces of gobo — 
roots of Lappa major ; rakkio, bulbs of Allium Baheri, boiled in shogu ; 
grated wasabi, stem of Eutrema Wasahi ; water-cress, midzu-tagarashi (not 
often). Also sometimes pickled greens of various kinds, and occasionally 
chestnut kernels boiled and mixed with a kind of sweet sauce ; nut of the 
Ginkgo tree, Salisburia adiantifoUa. Several kinds of seaweeds are also very 
commonly served with the rice. — Professor Georgeson in letter. 
